30 Day Eat At Home Challenge…

I read on Facebook about a friend of mine that was challenging her family to not eat out or order food for 30 days, basically a eat at home challenge. In fact a 30 Day Eat At Home Challenge!

I scoffed as I read the computer. That sounds stupid. Why would anyone want to do that? I mean we don’t eat out that much….

Geez . How much do we really eat out in a month?

We definitely go to Subway or McDonald’s at least once a week because of dance class or hockey practice.

My husband goes to Max’s Place at least once a week for either coffee, a treat or lunch.

I do the Tim Horton’s and Starbuck’s Drive Thru at least 3x a week.

On average I probably have one dinner, lunch or coffee with my girlfriends or clients.

We do a family breakfast or supper out at a sit-down restaurant at least twice a month.

SCREW YOU SARA (my Facebook friend) AND YOUR SUPERIOR WAYS! My family can totally do this too.

So we are.

We talked about it on December 31st and we started. Since then, we have received the very best coupons ever.

Whyyyyyyy??? 10 nuggets with a drink for only $3.99?!

I’m so hungry for no reason.

My son hates every second of this challenge. He won’t shut up about going to McDonald’s for a cheeseburger.

My daughter is furious that we couldn’t order pizza when her friend slept over. “WHAT ARE WE GOING TO EAT?!”

Puh-lease.

So, as hard as this is to track, I really believe we have saved quite a bit of money already this month. Obviously, these are all guesstimates, but the descriptions are from actual times I had to change my money spending ways.

30 Day Eat At Home Challenge

January 1:

January 2: Winter break is long, didn’t take kids to McDonald’s for “something to do”. Yes, I do that. MONEY SAVED $20.00

January 3:

January 4: Didn’t order pizza for daughter’s sleep over and made milkshakes at home. MONEY SAVED $35

January 5

January 6: Kids wanted popcorn, chips, hot chocolate at my son’s hockey game. I did too. That rink was damn cold. I desperately wanted to run over to the coffee shop across the street and grab a coffee. I packed juice boxes and popcorn twists for the kids. My son was cool with it. My daughter was not impressed. I also felt like a huge asshole for not letting them get a treat. MONEY SAVED $6

January 7:

The thing that is hard about this, is that I never actually saved the money. I don’t actually have it in my hand, you know? How can I teach the kids about saving money if we don’t really have anything tangible? I thought maybe at the end of each day we could put that money in a jar? But, who actually has cash these days? I thought about adding it all up at the end but does that even make sense?

I am totally open to suggestions.

Maybe this was stupid.

I already know that we have some tough days ahead and I am totally going to give in. I mean, how can I take them to WHL hockey game and not let them have popcorn? I just can’t. I’m not the devil. I just need to come up with a lie to tell the kids about why it is okay to buy popcorn at the Kootenay Ice game and not at the Marysville arena for Mites Hockey Game.

16 thoughts on “30 Day Eat At Home Challenge…”

I would justify the popcorn at the Ice game by explaining that Western Financial Place has a no outside food policy, same as the movie theatre. That way if you bend it is not because you had much choice, you weren’t able to bring your own snacks.

If it were any other month I’d do this with you, Kyla. Right now Life is bonkers and I need all the help I can get.
BTW – I don’t think you should include meals/coffee with friends in this. That’s absolutely necessary for survival as a mom!

we live 30 minutes from the city. The only time we eat out is when we are running errands. I could not believe how much we saved when we moved out to a rural area. Car snacks are a must (granola bars etc)

Sure, now I feel like I should do it to just as I’ve discovered by favourite restaurant in town has an APP. Yes! I can order from my phone and have palak paneer in my car 15 minutes later. Damn you Kyla and Sara and your superior ways!

Good for you for doing this. You will probably save tons of $ and eat healthier! As for tips, I don’t really have any. We love eating out at least weekly… I can’t imagine giving that up. But i’m rooting for you and can’t wait to hear all about your experience. Good luck!